3DDS blog

3DDS zbrush model

For 3DDS we were asked to create a 3D sculpture, using the program “z brush” that had human muscle anatomy. Before going about creating the sculpture we had to collect reference images of human muscle. The reason this is important is, we cannot try creating muscle from memory and assume it is right; reference is useful for getting muscle proportions. For reference I collected images of people with low body fat, I also collected a diagram of muscle anatomy in order to gain a better understanding of how they are formed, another reason I got the diagram is every muscle formation is genetically different, such as abdominal muscles are either formed as a 4 pack, 6 pack or an 8 pack.   

 

 

When I started, I try making the shoulder, chest and abs muscles, without reference, it was only after looking at the reference material, that I realised it was wrong and corrected it later.  

 

 

 

 

Then I started on the front shoulder muscle using the brush clay tube; I press alt to make the brush go inside the mesh, while drawing the muscle in order to shape them. On a different layer, I pressed shift to smooth it out, the result was the front muscle came out too big, which I had to correct later.

 

 

I then started creating a block out of the neck muscle. By looking at the muscle diagram, you can see the muscles form a v shape which kind of stands out, by looking at the block out it doesn’t really look right. Another part I blocked out was the clavicle bone which holds it. While doing this I used the mirror tool so the block out would be symmetrical.

 

 

 

After I smoothed it out, it then started to look right; I kept going back to the block out in order to get it correct.

 

 

 

After finishing the neck and clavicle, I started on the chest. The chest muscle on each side are not connected to each other, so I decided to go into the mesh

 

 

 

 

 

Then I started drawing the way the chest muscles are formed, in the way how their direction changes

 

I then smoothed it out again. I also corrected the arms and made the front shoulders smaller.

 

 

 

I started drawing the back muscle which appear to  just float there

 

 

 

 

 

I continued drawing the muscle formation. 

                                                                      

 

 

 

 

Here it is smoothed out, but it still doesn’t look right. 

 

 

 

I continue to drawing over it after I smoothed it, in order to get the muscle right.

 

 

I continued smoothing it, and blocking it, this was mainly because the muscles are very bumpy.

 

 

 

When I smooth it out, it finally started to look like the muscles on a back

 

 

 

I then started to work on the spine by going in through the back.

 

 

 

 

I then continued to smooth it out. I struggled with doing the back as I couldn’t find a lot of images on the back.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started to create the ribs, which was fairly straight forward, but I had to go over them later.

 

 

Here is the ribs smoothed out from the side, they look okay.

 

 

 

 

 

I went to do the lower back muscles, looking at a reference photo; they are actually quite similar to abs muscle except they don’t split off.    

 

 

 

 

I continued to shape the muscles, on the back in the block out, if you notice it splits in the middle and they go diagonally in a 45 degree angle.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the back smoothed out.

 

 

I then started to block out the triceps and elbow. The triceps consist of 3 muscle group and have a triangular shape, hence the name triceps.  

 

 

Here it is smoothed out. This was something I went over later, in order to make it look more real.

 

 

 

I then started on the biceps. The biceps consist of 2 muscle groups, hence the name biceps, and the threads of muscle go straight down, and are in an oval shape. 

 

 

 

 

Here are the biceps smoothed out. This was another thing I went back to later.

 

 

 

 

I then started to block out the rib bones

 

 

The bone goes all the way back, after I started on the side abs.

 

 

 

 

 

The side abs were really complication as they are all connected and appear to overlap each other.

 

 

 

In this image the side abs aren’t correct. The reason is they flow into each other; I struggled to get them overlap. Another reason why they are wrong is they are not angled enough.

 

 

I started to go over them and also cut into them, in order to separate them, this is where they started to improve in appearance.

 

 

I continued to do this and started to make the front part more slanted.

 

 

 

This is the point where I started to become happy as they finally started to look correct.

 

 

 

I started to block out the bottom, to make the model look more correct.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I started to block out the lower abs, which, when a person builds a lot of muscle becomes x shaped. I started to become pleased with my structure because it started to look like an actual person.

 

 

 

 

I went back to the side abs, to make them more separate and more slanted.

 

 

 

 

Here they are smoothed out, and this was a very lengthy process, which took longer than any other part of the sculpture.

 

 

 

 

When finsihing the side abs, I went back to the front ones, by looking at referencematerial I realised they were wrong, and were too small and not correctly shaped.

 

 

 

 

I continue to add mass to the abs, so they would stand out, as if the person has a very low body fat percentage.  

 

 

 

 

This is where I started on the lower abs, which the muscle threads are formed slightly differently than the upper ones. They do separate but no matter how low your body fat you will never be able to see this

 

 

Here is the front and side abs smooth out, this I thought went very well.

 

 

 

 

I went back to the biceps to give them more shape and make them more define.

 

 

 

 

I went back to the triceps to give them more shape and make them more defined.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the biceps smoothed out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here the triceps are smoothed out.

 

 

 

 

Here is where I started to block out the legs, to get the leg muscle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I then smoothed them out.

 

 

 

 

 

I created a new layer and continued to block them out.

 

 

 

 

I then smoothed them out again to finish the front legs.

 

 

 

 

 

I then started on the back of the legs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I processed to block out the legs,

 

 

 

Now finally I smooth out the back of the legs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the sculpture from the front

Here it is from the back.

 

 

If I were to do this again and what I learned

I thought this went well for a first try, I felt the legs didn’t go the way I wanted them to, and this was mainly because I couldn’t find many leg reference material, especially the back. I also found it hard to use Z brush as I have never used it before. By doing this I learned a lot about the human body, the way it formed and its proportions. If I were to do this again I would study the human body more and I would find it easier as I learned a lot of about  z brush.